Food Industry News, Insights, and Education for the CPG Community

Natural food investment keeps growing and the opportunity to meet a potential growth business is one of the biggest opportunities drawing private equity and strategics to events like Natural Products Expo East, which concluded last week. At the Baltimore show, Editor-in-Chief Jeff Klineman and Wellvest Capital’s David Thibodeau sat down at the show to discuss the progress of the natural and organic food business through the lens of decades, rather than years.

Over 14,000 CPG manufacturers, marketers and formulators will gather next week (October 4-8) at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas for SupplySide West 2016.

At this year’s Natural Products Expo East, there were salty, sweet, meat-based, plant-based, crunchy, creamy foods as far as the eye could see. Project NOSH walked the entire show floor, which included 1,450 exhibiting brands, and picked our favorite new products debuting at the show.

That gorilla grew fast! After just over two years in business, raw nuts and seeds snack brand Gorilly Goods) has sold a controlling stake of the company to cereal and snack company Nature’s Path.

At the upcoming Project NOSH L.A. conference on Nov. 1 and 2, hundreds of entrepreneurs, industry leaders, suppliers and investors will come together to discuss the current landscape of the food industry and how they can grow their businesses. Helping brands achieve these goals will be three speakers who have just been added to the Project NOSH lineup.

Today, grocery delivery service FreshDirect announced it had closed a $189 million round led by J.P. Morgan Asset Management on behalf of its PEG Digital Growth Fund II L.P. Also investing in the round was second-time investor W Capital and AARP’s Innovation Fund.

To highlight its deep ties to Madagascar, Madecasse chocolate has launched an innovative new sampling program staffed solely with former Madagascar Peace Corps volunteers.

Now half a year into its new leadership, Bobo’s Oat Bars is making changes, trying to bring the fresh aura of the perimeter into the decidedly center store-bound nutrition bar category. A packaging redesign and strategy to pitch Bobo’s homemade feel as part of a “freshly baked” subcategory of the bar set are central elements of the idea.

Starting a company is a bit like having a child. Months of gestation, a lot of painful tooth-gnashing to get it out into the world, and then nights of sleeplessness hoping you’re doing everything right. Milkmakers and Anchor Bar Two (two brands that are still in their youth, and coincidentally catering largely to the mommy market) recently announced that they’ve moved on to the next phase of their development via acquisition.

Companies around the country are looking to pulses, spice, and shorter ingredient lists in a quest to reach the natural shopper. But what about the brands that have been doing as much from the start? For whom this is not trendy, but part of their DNA? Bueno Foods — which is now celebrating its 65th anniversary — is one such brand.

Small food brands will get product development capabilities overseen by big-brand experts with the opening of Snackwerks, a new facility being opened up by JPG Resources.

The hurt is accelerating for big CPG. Every single one of the largest eight food and beverage companies had U.S. sales declines in Q1 2016 vs. 2015. In this NOSH Voices guest post, Michael Burgmaier looks at why this decline is occurring and what big CPG brands are doing to try to reverse the trend.

At the upcoming Project NOSH L.A. conference, a select group of better-for-you and natural food brands will take to the stage for a unique Battle Royale. And amidst a conference on growth strategy and investment for the next generation of natural brands, the sharks will be circling. That’s right. We’re talking about a Pitch Slam. Five contestants. Noteworthy judges. Business plans. Drama. A well-dressed moderator. All in it for $5000, tons of attention, and the advice from top industry leaders.

The summer heat may be fading, but retailers are still hot for unique, natural products. The past few months have seen several notable additions by forward thinking retailers including Target, Safeway and Costco.